Chaos mars last sitting of State Assembly

Chandigarh: The chaotic end to the last session of the present Vidhan Sabha was unprecedented in the legislative history of Punjab as neither the legislators exchanged pleasantries amongst each other nor the ‘Best Parliamentarian’ was declared on Wednesday.

It was also unprecedented to see the legislators attending the session in their night suits that was apparently a part of their strategy to draw the attention of all after the two-night dharna inside the Vidhan Sabha, which was also an unseen thing in the past.

Videography of the protest and proceedings inside the House by the MLAs openly in front of the Speaker was also one among the numerous unseen things, including shoe hurling, which the House witnessed during the last session of 14th Vidhan Sabha.

After the House was adjourned sine die, the developments didn’t stop taking place in the Vidhan Sabha premises as the Congress MLAs conducted a Mock Assembly in the main gallery, where they made dummy Speaker, CM and Deputy CM to target the treasury benches. The drama lasted for about 30 minutes and as the media persons started leaving the Vidhan Sabha premises, the Congress legislators also opted to wind it up in a hurry.

Later, Bikram Singh Majithia and Virsa Singh Valtoha of Shiromani Akali Dal, who were targeted in the Vidhan Sabha by Congressmen during the shoe-hurling episode, accused the Congress MLAs, who spent two consecutive nights at the House, of consuming liquor and non-vegetarian food in the Assembly.

“They stayed here. You are investigative journalists. Please find out whether liquor was brought to the Assembly or not. The staff of the House have said non-vegetarian food was also consumed. Assembly is the most sacred place,” Majithia said.

Addressing the media at the press gallery, Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Valtoha not only denied having used “caste-related words” against Soondh, he announced to quit the politics if the charges are proved.

Valtoha too accused the Congress MLAs of “consuming liquor and meat” in the Assembly. He also claimed that the shoe hurling was the result of the intoxication only.

Later, Valtoha filed a privilege motion against the Congress MLAs. He submitted the copy of his request to Vidhan Sabha Speaker, who was already much disturbed over the sequence of things.

On the other hand, Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh, going by the words of his party MLAs, condemned the alleged “unparliamentary and derogatory language” used by Valtoha against the Dalits, saying that it had “hurt and outraged” the community.

“Valtoha seems to be suffering from acute perversion and severe psychopathic disorder for which he should be in the lunatic asylum instead of the Assembly,” he said.